Will was sure the Mind Flayer was back. The weird part was that he hadn't seen Him yet. Usually, Will could see the Mind Flayer, but He was hiding for some reason. He didn't want Will to see Him.
Will was driving back to Jane's house with his two bickering companions. The car was awkwardly silent. It was as if the line of eye-contact Brad and Mike made was solid and Will could feel it over his head. He didn't like that the two weren't getting along. They both hated each other, but Will couldn't see why. They'd never done a single thing to each other, but they were automatically mad. Brad didn't even like having Mike in his presence. Mike kept trying to find fault in Brad's character. It was making Will a little self-conscious about the whole thing. Whoops, sorry I'm stupid enough to get myself such a horrible boyfriend. But Brad wasn't horrible. He was just worked up about all of the new information that was being thrown at him. It was understandable that he was uptight. Anyone would be... right?
"We're gonna tell everyone about your vision, right Will?" Mike finally said.
Brad rolled his eyes. "Of course we're gonna fucking tell them. Aren't we saving the world or something? This information seems pretty important."
"I was just making sure he was okay with that," Mike argued. "I wouldn't want to go tell everyone about it without his permission."
"Well, it's a stupid question because of course he's gonna say yes. It'd be selfish to say no, right? This is information we need."
Mike furrowed his eyebrows. "How about you just let him answer then?" Both boys turned expectantly to Will, who was sweating ever so slightly. He had originally planned on saying no to telling everyone about the vision and just mentioning the feelings in the back of his neck. They all had enough to worry about without Will's visions. But now that Brad had mentioned that would be selfish, he felt a bit awkward disagreeing. He supposed it would be a little selfish to withhold all the information from everyone. They were in this together. They deserved to know, even if Will would rather they not.
"Yeah, we can tell them. It's fine."
" See?" Brad hissed. "I told you he'd be okay with it."
Mike scoffed. "Oh, well, you must just know him so much better than I do, huh? You knew what he was gonna say! Do you want a prize? Something for your effort?"
Will sighed as the boys continued to bicker in the background. He tried to drown it out. It was really getting old, both of them arguing at every convenience. It was like they had something to prove to each other.
When they finally arrived at Jane's house, the door was immediately answered by Dustin, who seemed to have been waiting for them.
"Finally. I've been having trouble holding the others off from breakfast until you got here. They're just about ravenous. You better come in quick."
Will laughed. He was pretty hungry too, so coming inside quickly to eat wasn't that much to ask of him. "What's for breakfast, then?"
"Eggos, obviously. This is Jane's house, after all." He turned towards them again. "But she's dressing 'em up all special. Like, not just syrup. She's got all these cool toppings. Customizing them for each person."
Mike grinned. "Aw, that's so cool! I can't wait to see what mine's like!"
Everyone entered the dining room where Jane was starting to distribute plates to the people who were already sitting. There were three spots left at the table. Two right by each other and one on the opposite side. Mike moved fast, making his way to one of the two spots next to each other. Will was about to argue against it, saying that maybe Will should sit with Brad since he didn't know anyone else very well, but Brad scowled and stomped off towards the opposite side, sitting down between Dustin and Max, so Will sat next to Mike.
Mike looked around, smiling slightly as his eyes met Brad's. "Oh, sorry, Brad. I suppose you might have wanted to sit by Will..."
Brad shook his head. "No, no, this is fine. I mean, this seats almost better because I can just look at him the whole time, right? Sometimes I like doing that a lot more than I like talking to him."
Will laughed awkwardly at the joke. Brad liked to say things like that, purely for fun, but sometimes they hit a little too close to home for Will and he found himself wondering if it was true.
Jane came suddenly out of the kitchen, two plates of eggos in hand. "I'm so happy you guys made it! I've been excited to make you your eggos!" She set a plate down by Brad and one down by Mike. Both boys thanked her as she left again.
"Wow," said Mike. "This is awesome. I'm gonna have to ask what her inspiration was." His eggos were stacked three high with a pile of whipped cream on top as well as multi-colored sprinkles. Will thought it was a funny characterization of the boy. He didn't really see Mike as a rainbow-sprinkles type of guy.
Brad studied his own eggos, proding them with his fork. There were two of them, slathered in peanut butter and topped with banana slices. "I think she was going for a healthy athlete thing?" Will laughed again.
Jane entered for the last time, her own eggos and Will's in her hands. She set Will's plate down and joined everyone at the table. Will had three eggos spread out across the plate with a whipped cream smiley face. There was caramel sauce and cinnamon on top and a side of apples.
"So, what's this say about me?" Will asked.
Jane took a bite of her own eggos, nothing but syrup on them. "Mmm... I thought it looked artsy. And calm. And I've always associated you with autumn." Will could get behind that. Autumn was his favorite season with all the pretty leaves.
Mike cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention. He played with his fork while studying the room. "Would some bad news totally ruin the eggos breakfast right now, or are you guys okay with it?"
Max raised an eyebrow. "Bad news about what?" Her own eggos had chocolate chips and fudge sauce with strawberries.
"The Upside Down," Will offered. "We have a pretty unwanted update on that whole situation."
Lucas nodded. "We can take it, right guys?" His eggos had a mixture of chocolate and peanut butter.
Dustin nodded. His eggos had lots of whipped cream and sprinkles and chocolate and caramel and fruit. Jane seemed to have put just about every topping on his. Will tried to guess what that said about Jane's opinion of the boy. "Sure we can. What's the problem?"
Will sighed, looking at Mike for reassurance. Mike nodded encouragingly, giving Will a bit of confidence. "I... Well, I had a vision last night. Like the ones I got when we were twelve." There, now it was out in the open.
Lucas tilted his head. "Like, the ones you got when the Mind Flayer possessed you?" He looked around. "That's... probably not good. I mean, is it back? I thought we defeated the Mind Flayer."
Jane shook her head. "No. We just sealed it off. I'm not sure how we'd kill the Mind Flayer. It's not exactly a living being. It's just... shadow." She turned to Will. "Did you see it in your vision?"
"No," said Will. "But I could feel Him. He was definitely there, but I was in the motel room, so I couldn't see much of anything. I was about to look around when Mike woke me up."
"Yeah. Gald I did, then," Mike sighed. "I swear to god, Will. If you get possessed again..." Will shoved the boy playfully.
"I won't. I definitely don't want to get possessed. I won't let it happen." Will crossed his arms. The thought of getting possessed made him shiver. He remembered the last time, not very well. But he knew it had felt horrible. And he had led some military guys to their death, which he'd never really let himself live down, The thought of actually killing someone.
Dustin leaned back in his chair. "Great. I was really starting to miss the Mind Flayer, weren't you guys?"
Max shook her head. "How'd the Upside Down even open up? I mean, that's also a problem we'll have to solve. Even if we get the Mind Flayer back in and seal it, there's obviously something out there who knows how to open it." Maybe it was just Will's imagination, but he thought he saw Jane look down when Max said that. Guilt.
He was about to question it when the doorbell rang. Everyone looked towards the entryway except for Will, who had a sudden jolt in his neck. His hand shot up to it quickly. It felt as if the Mind Flayer was right there.
Lucas counted the heads at the table. "We missing anyone I forgot?"
"Probably just a friend of Mom and Dad's," Jane suggested, standing up and going to the door.
"Wait," said Will cautiously. "I just... felt the neck thing. I feel like there's something evil behind that door." He stood up, also starting to creep towards the door. It rang a second time as another sharp shock made its way through Will's body.
Max put her hands on her hips. "You really think a demogorgon or something is gonna have the decency to ring? That's definitely just a human."
Jane looked from the entry to her friends. "So... should I answer it?" Another ring, but no third feeling. Maybe it had just been a coincidence. Will settled himself down.
"It's fine, Jane. You can answer it."
She nodded and made her way down the hall again. She reached out to the door and turned the handle slowly. Everyone leaned into her view in anticipation of who was there.
Nobody could see who it was as Jane opened the door, but she gasped sharply, dropping the handle. That certainly stirred everyone's curiosity. Everyone got out of their chairs, running to the door. Will got there first since he'd already been standing. When he saw who the uninvited guest was, he could've fainted in shock.
Staring back at him from across the doorframe, bathed in the sunlight behind him like an angel descending from the heavens, was Jonathan Byers, smiling the biggest smile Will had ever seen. He met it with one ever bigger.
"Jonathan..." Will said, barely audible. When Max first called him, it crossed his mind slightly. What if Jonathan's alive too? But he decided it was unlikely and he shouldn't get his hopes up.
But here he was, standing in the doorframe. Will wanted to hug him and yell at him and curl up and sob in a corner all at the same time. Jonathan was alive.
Nobody was speaking. Perhaps letting Will have his moment. Everyone was happy to see Jonathan, but it obviously meant at a lot more to Will than it ever would to his friends. Jonathan was one of his favorite people on earth and his death had felt like the end of the world.
"Hi," was all Jonathan said back. Maybe he would've said more, but Will stepped forward and interrupted him with a hug. He didn't even care about the feeling in his neck at the moment, his brother was alive.
Jane took her turn to give Jonathan a hug after Will was finally done. She looked up at him. "You wanna come inside and talk? I think we'll have a lot to tell each other."
Jonathan nodded. "Yeah, of course. I mean, this is so crazy. I woke up in the Upside Down and-"
"Happened to me too," said Max. "In the forest?"
"Yeah, by that little gate..." Jonathan's eyes widened. "Wait, did you guys not close all the gates?"
Jane shook her head. "We closed them... but one opened again." She looked down. "We don't know how. But that's why we're all here. To fix it."
Lucas seemed to notice Jonathan's somewhat shocked expression. "You wanna sit down?"